Donald Pierson e o Projeto do Vale do Rio São Francisco: cientistas sociais em ação na era do desenvolvimento / Donald Pierson and the São Francisco River Valley Project: social scientists in action in the age of development

Amid rapid social changes in Brazil in the 1950s, wide-reaching collective research projects in the social sciences were conducted in partnership between Brazilian and international agencies working in regional development. Cooperation between social scientists and government staff was based on the expectation that social and anthropological studies would orient the changes then under way. By approaching the research program in the São Francisco River Valley, the article examines a turning point in the career of sociologist Donald Pierson, combining analyses of context and content in his intellectual production. Pierson concentrated initially on the institutionalization of the social sciences in Brazil, promoting a standard of sociological work based on scientific research. In his research in the São Francisco River Valley, Pierson adopted a new approach by combining the sociologist’s role as scientist with that of agent of social change, thereby highlighting the importance of the application of sociological knowledge in practice.

Dans les années 1950 au Brésil, au milieu de changements sociaux accélérés, on a entrepris d’importants projets collectifs de recherche en sciences sociales en partenariat avec des agences nationales et internationales intéressées par le développement régional. La coopération entre chercheurs et techniciens de la fonction publique était fondée sur le souhait que les études sociologiques et anthropologiques pourraient guider les transformations en cours. À partir de l’examen du programme de recherches de la Vallée du Rio São Francisco, on cherche, dans cet article, à saisir les inflexions de trajectoire du sociologue Donald Pierson, en y associant l'analyse du contexte et celle du contenu de sa production intellectuelle. Au départ, Pierson s’est concentré sur l’institutionnalisation des sciences sociales au Brésil, en proposant un modèle de travail sociologique calqué sur la recherche empirique. Mais, au cours de ses enquêtes dans la vallée du fleuve, il adopte une nouvelle perspective en incorporant au rôle de spécialiste sociologue celui d'agent du changement social, tout en soulignant l’importance de l'application du savoir sociologique.

Estudos de comunidade, ciências sociais e saúde: o ciclo de pesquisas no Vale do São Francisco na década de 1950 / Community studies, socials sciences and health: the cycle of researches in the Vale do São Francisco in the 1950s

Esta dissertação aborda o conjunto de pesquisas de comunidades realizado no âmbito do Projeto de Pesquisas no Vale do São Francisco, estabelecendo relações com o processo de institucionalização das Ciências Sociais no Brasil e o processo dedesenvolvimento na década de 1950. Meu argumento é que, diferente das críticas que predominaram nos anos 1950 e 1960, os Estudos de Comunidade contribuíram para a análise do tema da mudança social no país. O Projeto do São Francisco foi organizado e dirigido pelo sociólogo norte-americano Donald Pierson nos anos 1950. Representa aconvergência de questões fundamentais naquele período, especialmente no que concerne à investigação do processo de mudança social por que passavam diversas comunidades do interior do país, e à temática do desenvolvimento. Pierson contou com a colaboração de Alceu Maynard Araújo, Alfonso Trujillo Ferrari, Esdras Borges Costa, Fernando Altenfelder Silva, Levy Cruz e Octavio da Costa Eduardo, seus alunos e colegas de trabalho na Escola Livre de Sociologia e Política de São Paulo. Os Estudos de Comunidade tiveram um papel fundamental na institucionalização das Ciências Sociais no Brasil, que então passavam por um momento de afirmação de sua cientificidade. Nesse processo, os Estudos de Comunidade foram considerados por diversos cientistas sociais um caminho mais eficaz para superar uma produção de caráter mais ensaístico. Por outro lado, esses estudos surgiam com o propósito prático de oferecer subsídios ao trabalho de técnicos responsáveis pela implantação de projetos de desenvolvimento e mudança social.

This study examines the Valley of the São Francisco Research Project’s studies, related to the process of institutionalization of Social Sciences in Brazil and development process, which marked 1950 decade. Although the criticism that predominate in the 1950’sand 1960’s, my argument is that the Community Studies contributed to analyze social changes in Brazil. The São Francisco Project was organized and directed by American sociologistDonald Pierson in the 1950’s. It represents the convergence of important questions at that time, specially about investigations of rural communities’ social changes and ideas ofdevelopment. Pierson counted with collaboration of Alceu Maynard Araújo, Alfonso Trujillo Ferrari, Esdras Borges Costa, Fernando Altenfelder Silva, Levy Cruz e Octavio da Costa Eduardo, his students and colleagues at Free School of Sociology and Politics of São Paulo.The Community Studies played a fundamental role in the institutionalization of the Social Sciences in Brazil, which at that time had been going through a period of affirmation of its scientificity. In this process, the Community Studies were considered by social scientists amore effective way to overcome a more essayistic approach. On the other hand, these studies would come in order to offer subsidies to the work of technicians who were responsible forimplementing projects of social development and change. The São Francisco Project proposed a detailed investigation of many aspects ofsociocultural structure of rural communities, and it was incorporated to development conjuncture by the possibility of making intelligible: 1) communities’ culture to changesagents (administrators, physicians, agronomists, etc.), so that their actions would have the desired effect; 2) the strategies of resistance to changes, observed between rural populations,considered obstacles to development; and 3) the social change process in assimilable terms to rural populations...